Belwin Conservancy

Saturday, February 3rd from 5-7pm

Photo credit: Bell Museum

Please join the Bugs Below Zero research team at Belwin Conservancy on Saturday, February 3rd, 2024! Our team will be part of the Belwin's Midwinter Family Fun event. The Bugs Below Zero team will have a live station where you can meet Minnesota’s winter aquatic insects and learn about their important role in winter stream food webs. At the event. you can connect with insect and fish researchers associated with the Bugs Below Zero project to discuss winter research and learn how you might participate in our citizen science data collection project!

The Belwin Conservancy's Midwinter Family event is free and open to all ages. There will be guided outdoor hikes with Belwin naturalists, stargazing, and campfire s'mores. Our Bugs Below Zero team will be at the Hilltop Classroom, 1553 Stagecoach Trail S., Afton, United States. To learn more about the event, visit https://belwin.org/stec_event/midwinter-family-fun-2024/.

Why Attend A Bugs Below Zero event?

Did you know that some insects (including stoneflies, mayflies, caddisflies and non-biting midges) are active in the dead of winter? These bugs are able to survive below-zero temperatures and can often be found on snowbanks! They are also a vitally important food for trout. Researchers are examining how seasonal changes may alter these insects’ life-cycles and trout populations.

At a Bugs Below Zero event, you can:

Meet Minnesota’s winter aquatic insects and learn about their unique life-cycles and adaptations,
Connect with researchers associated with the Bugs Below Zero project who are trying to understand how temperature change might impact stream food webs.
Learn how you can participate in the Bugs Below Zero project and help researchers by monitoring insects on stream banks this winter.